Replace Me
by hypotheticalcoffee
Summary: A speculation story for "The Perfect Storm."  Aria/Ezra.


**Title**: Replace Me  
**Author**: carleymarie  
**Category**: Pretty Little Liars  
**Disclaimer**: I own nothing except my thoughts and the MacBook I type them on.  
**Rating**: T  
**Pairing**: Aria/Ezra  
**Reviews**: Greatly appreciated. You have no idea how much I value the feedback I receive. Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, alerted, or added my first Pretty Little Liars story, "I Can't Get Enough" to their favourites list. It means a lot to me.  
**Summary**: A speculation story for "The Perfect Storm." Aria/Ezra.

**A/N**: I really loved writing my first Pretty Little Liars story, "I Can't Get Enough," and wanted to write a story about Aria and Ezra's first encounter since his return.

I think this episode is going to go one of two ways for Aria and Ezra. This is one of them.

This story is inspired by the promo and one of the sneak peeks for the new episode.

The title of the story comes from Andrew Belle's "Replace Me" from his 2008 EP "All Those Pretty Lights." I became addicted to his music after hearing "All Those Pretty Lights" on an earlier episode of the show.

Enjoy!

**Replace Me**

She knew Noel liked her. He told her that he liked her on their first "date." She couldn't even call it a date. Aria only agreed to go out with Noel because Hanna insisted. Adamantly. On that date Aria knew that she just couldn't get over Ezra. She was with a cute and nice boy, but couldn't have had a more horrible time. She tried to move on, but Ezra was too special to just forget about.

Noel pulled Aria into a random classroom. The room was random for him anyways. Of course, the classroom that he wanted to speak to her alone in was none other than Ezra's.

On her first encounter with Noel, she talked about Ezra. On her second, she gets pulled into his classroom. It felt wrong being in his classroom alone with someone other than him.

"Hey, why don't we go down a couple more rooms? It's still a little noisy right here," Aria said, wanting to come up with any excuse to leave the room.

"Yeah, we can do that," Noel responded quickly, obviously taking her words out of context, thinking that she changed her mind about him and wanted to be somewhere more private with him.

The two walked down the hall, turning the corner as they got to the end.

"How about here?" Noel asked, pushing open the door to one of the History classrooms.

It wasn't long before they were settled in the room, engaging in something she didn't see coming. A sing-a-long. Sure, she thought it was sweet that Noel wanted to "make some music together," but she was sure that he had ulterior motives, suspicions that were confirmed only a few seconds after they finished singing.

As Noel leaned in, she knew things were going to end badly.

Aria's mind was spinning. Sure, she could kiss Noel, and sure, she could be with him, but that's not what she wanted.

It wasn't that she didn't like Noel. In fact, she had a crush on him all through middle school. It's amazing what a few years could change, or what one person could change.

But now, even broken up, she didn't want to betray Ezra and any chance they had of getting back together. Noel could be a distraction, but she didn't want just a distraction.

Fate seemed to agree with Aria as she heard a cough from the doorway.

Aria looked up to see a shocked and hurt Ezra standing in the doorway.

"We found more flashlights in case the power goes out again. Maybe one of you wants to go to the gym and pick one up," Ezra said coldly, pointedly referring to Noel. Not only was the storm getting worse outside, it seemed like it would soon be picking up inside.

"Uh, yeah, sure. Aria I'll go and grab one of those and come right back," Noel responded. "Or, you could come with me if you want," he added.

"Actually Noel, you go ahead, I need to go to the washroom. I'll meet you in the gym in a few minutes," Aria responded, trying to keep the shock off of her own face seeing Ezra back and catching her in what seemed like an intimate moment with someone else.

"Great, see you in a few," Noel responded, leaving the room.

Ezra stood in the doorway, unable to move for what seemed like hours, but in reality was only a minute or two. He couldn't help but stare at Aria, but was unable to speak.

Aria returned the same stare, feeling exposed and guilty over what he had just witnessed.

"I thought when you said you had to go the night of the dance, you meant home. I didn't realize you meant you had to go to another state and I wouldn't see you for a week," Aria finally said, breaking the silence.

When Ezra didn't respond, Aria continued. "I was worried about you, so I went to your apartment. I heard the message on your answering machine for your job interview in New York."

"Aria," Ezra finally spoke while walking into the room to lean against the large desk at the front corner of the room. "I took the job interview in New York because I needed space, I needed to be away from you. I actually needed a state line separating us."

"Maybe you did, but I didn't. I didn't want you to leave. I don't want you to leave."

"It worked out though, didn't it? You should be with someone like Noel. By leaving, I gave you the chance to be with someone your own age."

"You don't really believe that, do you?" Aria asked, moving to take a step closer to Ezra. "Noel isn't who I want, but at least he's here. You were gone and I was left thinking about you, and how you just decided to leave." Aria took a deep breath before continuing. "You abandoned me, Ezra, which is something I totally don't need right now. You should know that better than anyone."

"Aria, my leaving was the right thing to do."

"It wasn't the right thing to do, it was the most convenient," Aria responded angrily. "I guess a few days away was a nice vacation from me and a good way to forget about all of my high school and family drama. It must've been nice."

"I thought about you every second," Ezra replied, moving to get up from the desk and walk closer to her.

"Why are you doing this, then? If we want to be together, we should be together," Aria said, taking another step closer to Ezra. She then reached out her right hand to grab his.

Ezra lightly squeezed Aria's hand before lifting their entwined hands. "The problem is that I want to be able to do this in public, I want to be with you in public."

"I want to be able to do that too, but being in public doesn't define us. You were wrong at the dance. It doesn't matter to me that we can't go out. I want to be with you, regardless of where we are. Our relationship is for us, not for anyone else."

"I don't want you to give things up for me, it's not fair to you."

"It's not fair to us if we just give up. Do you really want to give up?"

"No, but –" Ezra started before being cut off by Aria.

"But nothing. I still owe you a dinner. What do you say?"

"Enhanced macaroni and cheese?" Ezra asked with a smile.

"See, you can't get that at a restaurant anywhere. Sometimes spending time in your apartment is much better than going out," Aria answered with a smile. She squeezed his hand once before letting go.

"Back to the gym to meet up with Noel?" Ezra asked.

"I didn't want him, you know."

Ezra smiled before nodding once. "I'll see you later on tonight?"

Aria responded by mimicking his earlier nod. "You really need to find a better place to hide your spare key," Aria responded, walking towards the door. "Some girl could just let herself in."

"That's the idea. Why do you think I told you where it was?"

Aria exited the room smiling.

The storm may have been getting worse outside, but she could feel her internal storm dissipating. Ezra was the sun peeking through the clouds of her otherwise tumultuous life.


End file.
